Tag Archives | Sociopathy

I have never killed anyone, but I have certainly wanted to. I may have a disorder, but I am not crazy. In a world filled with gloomy, mediocre nothings populating a go-nowhere rat race, people are attracted to my exceptionalism like moths to a flame. This is my story.

Once while visiting Washington, D.C., I used an escalator that was closed, and a Metro worker tried to shame me about it.

Him: “Didn’t you see the yellow gate?”

Me: “Yellow gate?”

Him: “I just put the gate up, and you were supposed to walk around it!”

Me: [Silence. My face was blank.]

Him: “That’s trespassing! It’s wrong to trespass! The escalator is closed, you broke the law!”

Me: [I stare at him silently.]

Him: [Visibly rattled by my lack of reaction] “Well, next time, you don’t trespass, okay?”

This is the question of good and evil. For those of you who want the elevator-pitch version, the short position is this: my entire thesis is amoral; there are good and evil sociopaths; more sociopaths is a good thing; the clueless and losers are exactly as likely to engage in evil behaviors as sociopaths. Details follow. Keep in mind that this is a very rough sketch, and a sidebar to the main series that I really don’t want to pursue too far.

The Word “Sociopath”

A large number of commenters have objected to this term, and it has also led to some unnecessary confusion. Néant Humain, in a precise comment, pointed out that my use of the term does not square with the clinical use (actually, the term is no longer considered clinically precise at all, and has been replaced by phrases like “antisocial personality disorder”).